It has now been almost six months since the Agency revealed that four compliance schemes and 34 packaging producers had not done enough to merit certificates of compliance for the 2004 period (see letsrecycle.com story).
” We have interviewed three of the four compliance schemes from whom we had information in 2004 that they had failed to fulfill completely their obligations for recovery and recycling in 2004.“
– Environment Agency
Under UK producer responsibility regulations, any company above the threshold size that deals with packaging is obligated to pay for their share of meeting UK packaging recovery targets each year. Packaging producers – or compliance schemes on their behalf – are supposed to carry out this obligation by buying sufficient packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs) from accredited packaging waste reprocessors.
However, only 16 of the 20 compliance schemes registered with the Environment Agency carried out this activity to the full satisfaction of the Agency, which regulates the producer responsibility system. Among producers registered independently, 34 companies did not receive certificates of compliance for 2004.
But speaking to letsrecycle.com yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Agency revealed that no verdict has yet been made over what is to happen to any compliance schemes or producers that did not comply in 2004.
Legal
She said the process was ongoing, but that because legal proceedings might ultimately be involved, it was taking some time.
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The spokeswoman said: “We have interviewed three of the four compliance schemes from whom we had information in 2004 that they had failed to fulfill completely their obligations for recovery and recycling in 2004. We are still waiting to interview the fourth scheme. We are regularly keeping Defra informed of our progress.”
The Agency spokeswoman said it “could be another two months” before it is in a position to take action following the interviews with schemes.
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